Violence against police

10:46 am

Tue June 12, 2012

Crowd turns on Seattle police officer

Police are investigating but have no suspects from a crowd that attacked a patrol car Monday night in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle.

Spokeswoman Renee Witt says it was an anti-police demonstration but officers were unaware of it until one officer drove up on the scene.

The Police Blotter says about 50 people dressed in black with many of them covering their faces were carrying a banner and chanting anti-police slogans as they blocked traffic.

Some in the crowd threw eggs and flares at the patrol car. The officer called for backup. As more officers arrived, the demonstrators ran off in different directions.

Witt says it's unknown if this group is connected with demonstrators in black who broke windows during the May Day march in downtown Seattle.

Here is Seattle PD's write-up of the incident:

A flash mob of black clad agitators ambushed a lone police officer with eggs and flares, before melting away into the night. At approximately 10:10 pm last night, an East Precinct patrol officer was in his patrol car driving east on East Olive Way approaching Broadway.

As he approached the intersection, he saw a large group, about 40-50 people, dressed mostly in black, many of them covering their faces with bandanas. They were carrying a large banner and chanting anti-police slogans as they blocked the westbound traffic. When the group saw the marked patrol car, some in the group threw lit road flares and eggs at the patrol car.

Rather than engage the hostile crowd by himself, the officer turned down an alley and called for additional officers. As officers were responding to the area, the first officer encountered another protester who threw another lit flare at his car at the intersection of Summit Avenue and East Denny Way. Others in the group began pushing newspaper boxes into the street.

As soon as the additional officers arrived in the area, the protesters all took off running in different directions. There were no arrests.